UAE to launch indigenously-built satellite after four years

Dubai: Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, ruler of Dubai and Vice-President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), on Sunday launched the executive phases for building the Khalifa Sat, the first Arab-made satellite.

The satellite will be indigenously-built by UAE experts and would be placed in orbit by 2017.

While launching the project at the Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology, Sheikh Mohammed said, "Khalifa Sat is a message to all Arabs that Arab ushering into the space era is neither out of reach nor impossible and our state will be a leader in this industry as long as we have the confidence and courage to enter into competition with major countries in this field."

"Our doors will remain open for cooperation with all Arab countries in space technology and engineering," he said.